Shopping Mall Santa Clauses
Posing with shopping mall Santas has long defined Christmas shopping for toddlers and little children. But have you ever wondered where the practice came from?
Most attribute the modern shopping mall Santa to have originated from a tradition started by James Edgar, a department store owner in Brockton, Massachusetts, in 1890, when he donned a Santa costume to appeal to children shopping with their parents.
This endeavor proved tremendously successful and turned Edgar’s relatively small store into a novelty. This new attention caught the eyes of prominent businessmen in the New England area, who started implementing their own meet-Santa Claus events at their respective stores. The adoption of this practice in major department stores, such as Macy’s, Sears, and Woolworth, further led to the rise of shopping store Santa Clauses.
By the dawn of the 20th century, meet-Santa Claus events had become commonplace in department stores across the nation, and as time progressed, they grew to become month-long spectacles with elaborate Christmas decorations with elves and helpers. Today there are an expected 3,500 meet-Santa Claus events scheduled per year with 1,800 children in attendance per day.
Candy Canes
Candy canes, well-known icons of Christmas joy and spirit, have played a central role in the celebration of the holiday in the Western world. Many believe the first candy cane was made in Cologne, Germany in 1670, when a choirmaster at the Cologne Cathedral attempted to silence noisy children attending Christmas Mass by asking a local candy maker to make a type of confection or the.
In order to make the candy appropriate to be given out during Mass, the choirmaster asked for the candy to have a crook on the top of each one, to resemble Joseph’s shepherd staff. The color choices of the candy also stemmed from Biblical symbolism. The white strips of the candy reflected on the sinless life of Jesus, while the red symbolized the blood He shed on the cross.
The candy became popular among the children, and the tradition of giving out candy canes soon caught on. By the early 1700s, candy canes were regularly given out to children during Nativity re-enactments in most of Western Europe. The tradition spread to Eastern Europe and the United States with mass migrations of Germans in the late 18th century.
Christmas Stockings
Christmas stockings have become a quintessential part of Christmas decor and celebrations. The tradition originated from a Christian belief that Saint Nicholas, a main saint in the Catholic and Orthodox churches, when staying with a poor family, placed gold in three socks hanging above a fireplace to save the daughters of the household from being sold into slavery by their father.
This story inspired parents in the 17th century to begin placing gifts in their children’s socks. The first Christmas stocking were normal socks that had been decorated with gold string and lace. The first modern Christmas stockings originated in 19th century America.
